Veteran Israeli negotiator Shaul Arieli discusses the failure of the Oslo Accords, various Israeli prime ministers' commitment (or lack thereof) to ending the occupation, and the only solution he believes both sides could live with, however unsatisfied they might be with it.  Shaul Arieli is a man on a dual mission: educating Israelis about the conflict and diplomatic process with the Palestinians, and making the point that the two-state solution is both possible and necessary. His latest publication in Hebrew, A Border between Us and You (Yeditoth Ahronoth Books 2013), is a 500-page handbook to the history of the conflict, with an emphasis on…

This week's publication of a U.S.-funded study cleared the Palestinians of charges that their schoolbooks 'demonize' Israel. This was not, however, the first hoop they've been made to jump through, and it won't be the last. The Israeli and U.S. Jewish establishment reaction to the terrible news that the Palestinians don't demonize Jews in their textbooks reminded me of the long-forgotten uproar over the Palestinian Covenant.  Same bullshit. The stout-hearted nationalist Jews in the U.S. and Israel were saying in unison, "How can we ever trust the Palestinians to make peace when their covenant talks about ''liberating all of Palestine'?"…

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement turned out for an anniversary rally in the Gaza Strip. It is the first such celebration that Hamas officials in Gaza have allowed since the two factions split nearly six years ago.   It was a sea of yellow in the streets of Gaza City, as thousands upon thousands of Palestinian supporters of Fatah came out to mark the organization's 48th anniversary. And, for the first time in more than half a decade, were allowed to display that support publicly. Fatah's yellow flags are a rarity in Gaza nowadays.…

The defense minister symbolizes the 21st-century failure of the Israeli 'warrior for peace.' Ehud Barak, who announced his retirement from politics today, said a couple of very brave things in his political career. "If I were a Palestinian at the right age, I would have joined one of the terrorist organizations at a certain stage," he said early on. A couple of years ago he said: "If, and as long as between the Jordan and the sea, there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic... If the Palestinians vote in elections,…

2011 is drawing to a close and it has been a year full of expectation and suspense regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I admit that I thought it was a year in which significant things might change. But after a weekend trip to some of the hottest spots in the hot spot, I reflected that a few things may always remain stable. Both sides have dreams that will probably not be fulfilled. Both sides have elements - people - who seek a maximalist position. The dreams of those extremes are ultimately likely to be foiled by reality. Despite the asymmetry of…

The Palestine Papers show that Palestinian negotiators ran out of cards a long time ago, writes this despairing Palestinian commentator By Shadi P. Around 1,600 documents about the Palestinian- Israeli secret negotiations have leaked so far. Unfortunately, we do not have any photos of the meetings. Some Palestinians were anxious to see photos because they thought that the Palestinian Authority team could not have been seated at a round table during the negotiations, but rather they were bending over all the time and had sticks pressed hard in their backs by the Israeli team. That’s why they made concessions - …